Pakistan: Lawyers boycott dist courts against new rule for case allocation

Lahore [Pakistan], February 15 : Pakistan lawyers have protested in Lahore by boycotting district courts against a newly-introduced mechanism of case allocation on the basis of tehsil and sub-division, local media reported on Tuesday.
The members of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) on Monday kept the entrance gates of the sessions court locked almost for the whole day, denying access to the judges, court staff and the litigants, Dawn reported.
According to the publication, police officers concerned reached the court and tried to negotiate with the protesting lawyers for opening the gates.
District and Sessions Judge Habibullah Amir held a dialogue with the bar leaders, but with no breakthrough. Later, the judge went to the Lahore High Court to take up the matter with the authorities concerned, it reported further.
The sessions judge recently issued a notification regarding the transfer of cases pending before civil courts at Aiwan-i-Adl to respective tehsils/sub-divisions the plaintiffs concerned belonged to. The decision was apparently taken in order to reduce the workload on the courts stationed at the Aiwan-i-Adl, the Dawn reported.